There are some stores where when you ask for help the person either can help you or finds someone who can. Home Depot is a good example of this. You feel like they want to help you and that if they can’t, well then they admit it and get someone else that they know knows their stuff. I never get that sense in Canadian Tire. You ask a question and it feels like you are inconveniencing the employee. You get an answer and you aren’t sure if it’s the best answer or just the best answer to get you to leave the employee alone.
Now I’m positive that there are some Canadian ‘aka Crappy’ Tire employees that are better than some Home Depot employees. But after decades of going to both stores (for different products not available in both stores) I consistently see better service at Home Depot. So is it the pay scale? The training? The average age or pre-employment skills of the employees? What makes one so much better than the other?
Regardless, I find myself wanting and expecting better customer service, and being less tolerant of poor service. It’s the same at restaurants. Now when you go to pay, the tip percentage offered automatically on credit card machines is usually 15, 18, or 20%, and sometimes 18, 20, or 25%. I remember when 15% was an amount you tipped for good service, now it’s the minimum expectation. I feel for waiter staff who need this tip to make their wages livable, but I also think that this shouldn’t be an expected thing the way it is, and that tips should be rewards for good customer service and not an expectation.
I remember last summer taking my wife and my daughter and her friends out for a nice lunch in Kelowna. The meal wasn’t cheap but the service was very good as was the meal. I decided that even at these prices I would tip 20%. When the tip option came up on the payment machine the choices given were 20, 25, and 30%. That seems quite presumptuous to me. I gave the 20% and felt cheap rather than complimentary.
In China I used to go to a street vendor and my favourite meal costed 32 cents Canadian. When I tried to tip the vendor would just give me a larger serving. In many other countries tipping is either not expected or greatly appreciated. Here it seems that it’s an expectation no matter what the customer service is like. But I think good customer service matters and should be rewarded either by being a loyal customer or tipping appropriately… and expecting 20% as the minimum doesn’t seem appropriate to me.
*Also, isn’t it interesting that cheaper restaurants will often start the bottom tip percentage at a lower rate than more expensive restaurants? I’m asked if I want to pay 12, 15, or 18% on my $30 meal and 18, 20 or 25% on my $90 meal. Meanwhile I seldom see a dramatic difference in the service quality.
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Just remember wait staff have to tip out the kitchen 2-5% whether a tip is left or not. Also you usually have an option to leave an actual amount rather than a percentage.. so let’s be real, people working as wait staff do not make enough to live based on their hourly wage. If you are bothered by tipping then advocate liveable wages for everyone.
I completely agree Al! I do tip, and overall I tend to tip 18-20%, not 15. I just don’t like the assumption that it will be 20. My friend’s daughter is living in Australia while she does some schooling and her waitress job pays her around $30 Australian, and is stepped base on her annual income (with it being higher because she’s a student with only a part time job). That idea of a livable income is completely workable… and I’d still probably tip, just not 20%.